Charles might think the English King was doing what was wrong and unjust, was it so wrong and so unjust that fire and sword were to be let loose through Christendom? Chapuys and Catherine were convinced that there would be no need of such fierce remedies. They might be right, but how if they were not right? How if England supported the King? The Emperor could not be certain that even his own subjects would approve of a war for such an object. Three years later, when the moment for action had arrived, if action was to be taken at all, it will be seen that the Spanish Council of State took precisely this view of the matter, and saw no reason for breaking the peace of Europe for what, after all, was but "a family quarrel." The Pope was cautious. He knew better than his passionate advisers how matters really stood. "The Pope may promise," Mai said, "but as long as the world remains in its troubled state, these people will be glad of any excuse to prolong the settlement." January came, when the English Parliament was to meet, and the note was still the same. "The Pope says," wrote Mai, "that we must not press the English too hard. I have exhausted all that I could say without a rupture. I told him he was discrediting the Queen's case and your Majesty's authority. I made him understand that I should be obliged to apply elsewhere for the justice that was denied me at Rome. He owns that I am right, but Consistory follows Consistory and more delays are allowed. We can but press on as we have always done, and urge your Majesty's displeasure."[1]
If a sentence could not be had, Ortiz insisted on the issue of another minatory brief. Anne Boleyn
- ↑ Mai to the Emperor, Jan. 15, 1532.—Spanish Calendar, vol. iv. part 1, p. 360.
